Unluckily for 19-year-old Maria del Mar Arjona, innovative efforts to bust her husband, Juan Ramirez Tijerina, out of a jail in a suitcase in Chetumel, Mexico, were thwarted by guards. But here are some great escapes to take inspiration from.
ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ
Possibly the hardest prison to escape from. In 1962 Frank Morris and floormates the Anglin brothers made a break for it. Digging tunnels from their cells, they climbed to the top of the block and on to the roof via the trusty action-movie staple of the air vent. After that, they made it to the shoreline of the San Francisco island, assembling a raft. All three are missing, presumed drowned.
JACQUES MESRINE
In 1969, Mesrine escaped from prison in Quebec. Apprehended the next day, he escaped from the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in 1972 with five others and went on a bank-robbing spree in Montreal. Arrested in France in 1973, he escaped during sentencing by holding a judge hostage and was arrested four years later. In 1978, he escaped from the maximum-security La Santé prison using weapons apparently smuggled in by guards.
PASCAL PAYET
Sentenced to 30 years in France for his part in a murder during a van robbery, Payet was picked up by friends, in 2003 at Grasse prison, using a hijacked helicopter. He was rearrested and given seven more years at Brignoles, but again escaped via a hijacked helicopter. In 2007, having completed extensive plastic surgery to change his appearance, he was rearrested.
DIETER DENGLER
Dengler became one of four American soldiers to escape a POW camp in the Laotian jungle during the Vietnam War and survive. In June 1966, he escaped with six others, seized weapons, shot his guards and trekked through the jungle for 23 days.
